The career of Barbra Streisand has been paved with bold, creative
achievements and highlighted by a series of firsts. For her very
first record album, "The Barbra Streisand Album," she
won two 1963 Grammy Awards. One of these was Album of the Year;
and she was then the youngest artist to have received that award.
She is the first female composer ever to win an Academy Award,
this for her song, "Evergreen," the love theme from
her 1976 hit film, "A Star Is Born." She was nominated
again in 1997 as co-composer of "I Finally Found Someone,"
based on her love theme for her film as director/producer/star,
"The Mirror Has Two Faces."
The "actress who sings," as Streisand once termed herself,
has repeatedly been at the top of the record sales charts. Her
recent Columbia Records albums, "A Love Like Ours" (1999)
and the double album, "Timeless - Live In Concert" (2000),
were both quickly certified as gold and then platinum. Her prior
"Higher Ground" (1997) and earlier "Back To Broadway"
(1993) albums are among only a handful of recordings ever to become
Number One on the sales charts in their initial week of release
and to go platinum through their first shipping orders. The previous
"The Broadway Album" (1985) similarly enjoyed great
praise and sales, became #1 and brought her three Grammy nominations
and her eighth Grammy for Best Pop Female Vocalist. The double-album
"Barbra Streisand: The Concert" (1994) was another recent
effort in her parade of hits. "Higher Ground" occasioned
two additional Grammy nominations. At home in pop, show tunes,
rock and ballads, she even made a classical album titled "Classical
Barbra" (1976) which was nominated for a Grammy Award in
the classical division. Of all her releases, 1980's "Guilty,"
Barbra's collaboration with Barry Gibb of The Bee Gees, achieved
the greatest success worldwide, selling over 20 million units
and spawning several smash hit singles.
After 25 years Barbra has reunited with Barry Gibb to record the
followup to their #1, worldwide, 12 million selling album Guilty.
Barbra Streisandˇ¦s latest effort, ˇ§Guilty Pleasuresˇ¨ features
12 songs written and produced by Barry Gibb. Barry has been writing
for this project for the past 18 months and he has come up with
some of the greatest songs of his career. The first single is
a stunning and beautiful collaboration entitled ˇ§Strangers In
A Strange Landˇ¨. The emotional and stunning vocal is a centerpiece
of the album. The album also features a song written for Guilty,
but never recorded before now called "Letting Go." The
statistics of her achievements as a recording sales leader are
clearly drawn in platinum and gold. She had achieved sales unequaled
byany other female recording artist. With forty-seven gold albums,
she is second in the all-time charts, ahead of The Beatles and
The Rolling Stones, exceeded only by Elvis. Thus, she is the
only artist among the top four all-time gold record sellers
who was not part of the rock & roll revolution which has
dominated the record business for four decades. She continues
to be the highest-selling female recording artist ever and has
had number one albums in each of the last four decades. Her
number one albums span a period of nearly 40 years, the greatest
longevity in that statistic for any solo recording artist. |
